A student walks into my office and says: “I am in big trouble. I need a lot of help with my college application. My biggest problem is that I have very few volunteer hours and hardly any community service. What do I do? Where can I go? Can you sign… Read more

The short answer is… as soon as you begin high school. Now, that does not mean that you would actually be filling out applications at that moment or preparing any of your application essays. But what it does mean is that, as soon as you start high school, you have… Read more

The short answer to that question is… longer than you think. Ultimately, it does not just take weeks or month—it takes years. The answer really depends on what part of the application process you are working on. To clarify, let me break down the timing.… Read more

As a former college admission officer, I was at the receiving end of hundreds of letters of recommendation. And, obviously, as a college counselor and independent educational consultant, I frequently talk with students about their letters of recommendation. I have seen good ones, bad ones, and anything in between. For… Read more

In my last post, I talked about some of the misconceptions about extracurricular activities in general and the place they have in your education and college application. In this article, I will address summer extracurricular activities in particular. Summertime—when most students are off school—provides you with an abundance of free… Read more

Extracurricular activities can certainly be fun and educational at the same time. Some people, though, seem to think these activities possess some sort of extraordinarily miraculous powers when it comes to college applications. They do not. Nevertheless, throughout my years as an admission officer and independent educational consultant, I have… Read more

The rigor—or difficulty—of the classes you take in high school (honors, AP, or International Baccalaureate) is a crucial piece of information colleges use to make admission decisions. In fact, rigor is one of the top three most important factors that college admission officers regularly consider. The annual State of College… Read more

“Early” is a somewhat relative term. For some, starting college counseling early means one week before the application deadline. For others, a year or even earlier in advance. What I mean by “early” when it comes to the college counseling process is considering college requirements at the very beginning of… Read more